Zojirushi EC-DAC50 Zutto 5-Cup Drip Coffeemaker, November 19, 2006

This coffeemaker was a bit more expensive than others available, but the engineering on this thing is just unbelievable. My wife and I have been using it for about three months now, and we still marvel at how well it works, and the quality of the coffee it makes. Some of the things we really like include the fact that we can take the removable resevoir to the sink to fill it rather than try to pour water into the machine with the possibility of spilling it; the conical container for the grounds is in the coffee pot, so it is very easy to empty the grounds, and coffee doesn’t drip onto the heating plate after removing the pot; it uses a #2 paper filter, and I’ve found that a similarly sized Swiss Gold foil filter also works for those who don’t want the paper filter to soak up the coffee bean oils (but you’ll need to be a little more careful to hold the top on the pot when pouring the coffee if you don’t remove the filter first; And I could go on with the good things. I don’t believe it has an automatic shutoff on the hotplate, or at least we haven’t found one, but we don’t use it anyway. All in all, I think that using this is like driving a Lexus instead of a ten year old junker. It’s a neat piece of equipment, and it makes great coffee.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comment (1)

Really pleased, March 14, 2007

By 

Kimberly E. Beall “Sleepy Maggie” (Franklinton, NC USA) – See all my reviews

  

  

I had never heard of Zojirushi before but I was being very picky, holding out for a coffeemaker that makes 4-6 “cups” (aka two mugs,) uses a cone-bottom filter, and isn’t black or white. This is the ONLY coffe maker – on Earth, apparently – that met all my criteria. (OK I still would have liked it better if it came in red, but the soft gray color is kind of classy!) And I have to say I’m really pleased with it. The design is simple and elegant and the removable water reservoir is a great convenience; I don’t have to pull the whole coffee maker out from under the overhanging cabinets to get enough room to put the water in.

It also makes really good coffee, mainly because of the cone-bottom filter (I’ll never go back to flat-bottom filters!) And the built in carbon filter makes more of a difference than I had expected.

OK some reviewers below were on about how it doesn’t make coffee “hot enough” and I was like, bonus! I still don’t understand how the rest of the human race can drink hot coffee straight from the pot without scalding their tongues. I was really looking forward to being able to drink coffee without having to put an ice cube in the cup first. (To be fair, I do drink it black.) I was so confident about this due to the “not hot enough” reviews that when I poured my first cup, I just took a great big sip – and scalded my tongue. Argh!! Maybe it’s just that the warming plate doesn’t keep coffee at boiling temperature, but it shouldn’t: that would ruin the flavor of the coffee (and I’ve had a few cheap coffee makers that did scorch the coffee in a very short time.)

Anyway if you are the sole coffee drinker in your home and you like GOOD coffee, and you don’t dig the flavor-limitations or wastefulness of those pod-based things, this is a perfect coffee-maker for you. (And if they ever make it in Red, I’ll be the first in line!)

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comments (9)

The Best In Its Category, June 18, 2006

By 

Sean P. Smith (USA) – See all my reviews

  

I spent a lot of time online looking for a 4 to 5 cup coffeemaker to suit my needs. There are the usual suspects: Mr. Coffee, Braun, etc, that seem to get universally bad to mediocre reviews from people, especially people who know anything about coffee. I decided to skip all of those and look for something that would make a really good cup of coffee.

My choices became limited to two coffeemakers: one made by a company called Bodum (which looks like some kind of laboratory beaker) and the Zojirushi Zutto. The Bodum model supposedly performed well and made excellent coffee under ideal conditions, but many people who reviewed it said that it was prone to mishaps such as overboiling. So I went with the Zojirushi. I was not disappointed.

The Zutto is extremely well-designed and functional. The coffee filter is in the lid of the pot (not attached to the maker, like most autodrip models), and there is a removable charcoal water filter to remove chlorine, etc. It’s very easy to clean, attractive and perfect for a small space. After running water through it a few times to remove the burned-plastic taste you would get from any new coffeemaker, I brewed up a pot of Green Mountain. The coffee was excellent, the best I’ve ever had from an automatic drip maker. After the pot was left on the burner for 10 minutes, the coffee still tasted good, with only a very slight hint of a burned taste. I’m assuming this means that the heating element is set to the correct temperature for keeping the coffee warm.

There were no problems with pouring; you just have to place your thumb over part of the lid when you pour. The Zojirushi Zutto is a well thought-out and sturdy product, far better than anything comparable from any American company.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comment (1)